Delhi High Court seeks RBI’s response on PIL alleging data breach by digital lending NBFCs

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging violation of borrowers’ privacy rights by non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs) and their digital lending mobile applications [Himakshi Bhargav v. Union Of India & Ors.]. .A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia directed the RBI to file its response clarifying the action taken towards enforcement of the RBI Digital Lending Directions 2025.“We require the RBI to file a counter affidavit, not only in relation to this petition, but also bringing on record the action taken for enforcement of 2025 guidelines. The counter shall also dispose as to what action has been taken by the concerned entities in case any violation of the said directions are found,” the Court stated. The affidavit shall be filed in six weeks, the Court directed..The Court noted that the RBI had issued statutory guidelines concerning digital lending activities in India. The guidelines lay down measures for checking the proliferation of data and contain a mechanism for grievance redressal.The petitioner stated that despite the issuance of the 2025 guidelines, several mobile applications available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store continue to access contact lists and call logs, collect data and deploy coercive consent mechanisms. “The continued violations have resulted in large-scale invasion of borrower privacy, particularly affecting students, first-time borrowers, gig workers, and economically vulnerable sections of society…The violations disproportionately affect digitally dependent and economically weaker sections, resulting in unequal protection and denial of safeguards guaranteed under Article 14,” the petition states. .The petitioner had filed a complaint to the RBI in this regard. However, no response was received and no action was taken. It is stated that RBI’s inaction on his complaint led to continued violations and constitutes a failure to discharge its statutory and constitutional duties.Thereby, the 22-year old college student pursuing Political Science (Honours) sought urgent court intervention. .The PIL sought directions to the Union Ministry of Finance, RBI, Google LLC and Apple India. Further, it sought for directions to RBI to cancel or suspend the licences of non-compliant NBFCs, digital lending applications, lending service providers and other entities. It also sought a status report indicating the number of digital lending platforms found non-compliant and action taken reports against them. With respect to the applications on Play Store and App Store, the petitioner sought to suspend or delist all digital lending applications that are operating without RBI’s registration or are not complying with the RBI guidelines. The next date of hearing is April 1..The petitioner was represented by Advocates Kunal Madan, Manmay Sarawagi, Yugal Jain and Teena..[Read live coverage].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.